The MicroTCA.4 development under the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) is proving successful in meeting a large range of needs for accelerator controls and instrumentation. A number of further extensions have been undertaken by DESY for the XFEL program for RF distribution which raises the question of preserving interoperability within the standard as important new solutions are discovered. Similarly the Zone 3 connector space has been specified functionally for a class of fast ADC-DAC use cases, in particular Low level RF and Beam Position Monitors, which suggests standards definition formalization wider than the current use cases. Common reference designs for AMC and RTMs are another area of need. In the software-firmware space, now bolstered by real experience, labs and industry can begin to converge on preferred architectures and software-firmware interface standards or at least guidelines for Best Practices. Prior work done in this area by the Software Working Group, reported separately, needs to be resumed and level of effort expanded.
The SLAC overview will refer to recent accomplishments as well as planning in progress for the 2-mile accelerator CAMAC control system upgrade.
The presentation covers the work of many contributors.
The xTCA for Physics leading committee members for Hardware Working Group were Robert Downing, Dick Somes, Vince Pavlicek, Kay Rehlich, Tomasz Jezynski, Dietmar Mann, Michael Thompson, Eike Waltz , Jean-Pierre Cachemiche and others. Key Software Working Group leaders were Stefan Simrock, Gus Lowell, Zhen’An Liu, Dariusz Makowski, Jorge Sousa, Michael Thompson and others.
The SLAC MTCA.4 development team members are Andrew Young, Charlie Xu, Sonya Hoobler, Till Straumann, Ernest Williams, Kukhee Kim, Bo Hong, Thuy Vu, David G. Anderson, Dan van Winkle, Debbie Rogind, Tom Himel and others. Zheqiao Geng, a major contributor, has recently joined PSI in Switzerland.